Hazel eyes
by emJeanie
Summary: Gideon started it. now they all do it.   sorry if it's bad
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first ever criminal minds fan fiction. Please read and review. I've never had one of my stories reviewed before. thank you. **

**P.S: I don't own criminal minds. I just watch it. **

**The eyes are the window to the soul. **

**They always checked. **

**After every case they would always check. And after every case there was still some sparkle. Some shred of hope for them that there was innocence in the world. **

**Gideon was the first one to do it. He would sit on the jet after whatever horrific case they had solved and glance over at his big hazel eyes. Making sure they still sparkled. Making sure there was still some hope. **

**Hotch started soon after. Whenever he got the opportunity, he would check those hazel eyes. If**** after everything they had seen over the past few days, they would still sparkle. There was still hope. **

**After Hotch had started, everyone had done it. After everything they had been through. After every different location they ****had been to. It didn't matter if the unSub was a sadistic killer. It Didn't matter if there was a happy ending. They would still check. Check for that sparkle. That glimmer of hope that not everyone got affected by their job. **

**Case after case they checked, until one day it stopped. His hazel eyes no longer held that sparkle. The glimmer of hope. The career they had all chosen had finally taken the innocence his eyes once held. He was just like them. **

**The team were sat on the jet, thinking about their youngest member. How Spencer Reid's eyes once held innocence. How they would be reassured by the sparkle in those hazel eyes that there were still decent people in the world. **

**They hoped one day that sparkle would return. **

**By Em-J **


	2. Chapter 2

Big thank you for the reviews! I'm still quite new to this so I didn't know what to expect but thank you! They really made my day. I was asked about continuing it so I'm going to try my best. I really hope it lives up to expectations. My apologies if it doesn't.

As before, I don't own anything to do with criminal minds except for a few DVD's.

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Chapter two:

There is never just one victim.

There is the main victim. The person who went through a harrowing ordeal at the hands of whichever UnSub had decided to shatter their ordinary life.

Then there are the other victims. The people who went through days of hoping and praying that the person they cared about would return home safely. With limited news available to them, the worst scenarios imaginable would play over and over in their minds like a movie. They would loose sleep. Lash out when they can't get to an answer. They would feel guilty over something they shouldn't feel guilty about. They would argue with one another over whose to blame.

They are there from the beginning, the middle, the end. They are there for the future. They will be there to carry on as normal. Get back into that familiar safe routine. They would be there to hold them and talk to them. The safety net. The reassuring shoulder to cry on during the day. Then they themselves would cry at night. Overcome with worry for their loved ones, longing for them to smile again. To love again. To see the sparkle in their eyes.

These victims are the family: Mother, father, bother, sister, husband, wife, children. These victims are friends, neighbours, teachers…

Colleagues even.

But the BAU are more than just colleagues. They are a family. They worked with each other. Spent time with each other. They had hoped and prayed for the safe return of a loved one. They had lost sleep trying to find him. They had felt guilty of leaving him on his own. They had lashed out at anything they could that wouldn't fight back. They had made threats to whoever was to blame for tearing their family apart and they had pointed the blame at one another.

They were there for the beginning, the middle and the end. Now it was time for the future. To carry on as normal. An every day routine that would hopefully bring back the sparkle in his eyes.

Spencer Reid was rattling off statistics. He was pointing out the obvious when everyone else had missed it. He was pinpointing the exact location the UnSub would strike next. He was helping solve cases.

The team were watching their youngest closely. To outsiders he was still Reid. The same bright, young man who worked for Gideon's team. But to Gideon and the rest of the team, he was different. The little things that made him Reid. The childlike enthusiasm as he rattled off random facts and made a break in the case had gone. He was snapping at his fellow colleagues for no reason. Prentiss being the main vent of his newly found cold attitude. He was making excuses for being late and wandering off without telling people. The sparkle in those hazel eyes had been gone for a while, and it was heartbreaking for the team to see…

By Em-J

Thank you for reading. Can you tell I've been watching repeats of season 2 lately?


	3. Chapter 3

Thanks for all the reviews everyone! You're all such nice people and I'm loving your work too. I'm happy to know that something I've written is worth reading!

As ever, I don't own Criminal Minds. I just watch it and own a few DVD's( and a book once Amazon delivers)

Chapter three:

The first step is for the victim to admit they need help. That's when the family can intervene. You must wait for them to come to you. Before that, it is hard to get through to them. Hard to tell them that they need help without them closing in on themselves, telling you that they are fine and refusing to discuss the matter.

The BAU had been playing the waiting game for quite a while. They knew there was something wrong. It was their job to know when something was wrong. They could detect a change in a person's behaviour. A change in their personality. They could tell in criminals. They could tell in Victims.

They could tell in Reid.

Reid was not his usual self and it pained them to see him like this. To the team he was a son and a younger brother, and seeing their son/brother in obvious torment broke their hearts. There were days they just wanted to pick up their baby genius, shake him hard and shout at him. Get him to cry. To ask for their help. Their advice. Just say something about the terrifying ordeal he went through courtesy of Tobias Hankle.

But they didn't. They waited. And waited. Cases came and went and they still waited. Rides on the jet came and went and still those hazel eyes stayed dull and empty. The sparkle that once dominated them just a memory to the team.

Jason Gideon was tired of waiting. He was tired of watching a young man, someone who had become like a son to him, suffer on his own. Like the rest of the team, he wanted to see that sparkle of hope in their youngest member's eyes.

Spencer Reid was sat alone. Lost in a trail of thought. Images of Tobias, his father and Raphael where swimming around his head clear as day. And those poor unsuspecting people, murdered because of him. Their terrified faces still haunted him. Watching them on the screen, their last minutes of life etched onto his mind for a lifetime. An unwanted gift from the eidetic memory Gideon had been astonished by when they first met.

Gideon. He had sent Reid a message from the victims' house. The ones that were killed because of a decision he made.

' it's not your fault'.

That's what Gideon had told him. Gideon wouldn't lie.

'it's not your fault'

If that was true then why didn't he believe him? Gideon's voice had been playing over and over in his head for a while now, but it was still hard to accept.

'it's not your fault'.

Gideon was standing beside him. He voice was calm, not pushy or angry. He just wanted Reid to understand.

He sat down next to the young genius. 'It wasn't your fault Reid.' he repeated. ' Nothing that happened that night was your fault. We are here for you and want to help you. And I know you want us to help you. Please come back to the BAU and talk to me'.

They sat in silence for a few moments. Reid staring into space, as though processing Gideon's speech.

Reid turned to face him.

'ok'

They got up and left for the BAU. As they got to the entrance, Gideon saw those hazel eyes sparkle slightly.

The first step is for them to admit they need help. However, there are some who need that push from the ones who love them.

By Em-J

I'm thinking this will be the final chapter. Please let me know what you think. Thank you for reading!


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